Iphone or Blackberry?

I'm glad this thread came up!  With the prospective T-Mobile/AT&T merger in the US, I'm trying to decide what to do--including what kind of phone I want, and whether or not I want data.  It's good to see all of the opinions here!

I was also going to suggest a HTC..we swapped our iPhones for one

We have the HTC Desire HD..which we LOVE....I do agree about the battery not lasting quite all day...

It also has a 8mg pixel camera and HD video on it...I just love it!

I've had every iphone now and not had a problem with them, if you're worried about your iphone reliability I'd suggest Apple Care, if you shop around you can get it for as low as £25 and Apple will fix/repair/replace your iphone for up to 3 years (1 year standard and 2 years extra).


To be honest, very few of the smart phones seem to last more than a year,

I definitely agree with looking at different types of mobile phone insurance. As well as with the manufacturer, some bank accounts offer it for free or with a very low cost, or it can be included with contents insurance. They'll frequently cover certain types of damage that would regularly void the manufacturer's warranty, and the insurance will also last for as long as you have the phone. DH's dad recently left his iphone 3 out in the rain and his insurer sent him a cheque for over £500.

Our experience has been that most phones we use become virtually unusable after 2 to 3 years. Even the ones that technically still work just have such bad battery life or end up dropping calls or develop other issues. As technology is increasing at such a fast rate though we're really happy to keep upgrading our phones that frequently, as long as they just last us until the ends of our contracts.

I'm not sure how the Androids are serviced, so that's one thing I'll look into.  I really didn't like how when I had a problem with the I-phone, the mobile shop was all 'well it's nothing to do with us' & the nearest I-phone centre (or whatever they're called) to me is in Sheffield - so not convenient at all.

DH bought his HTC Desire HD through mobiles.co.uk / Carphone Warehouse with a 1 year warranty, so he took it to our nearest one of those and they had to send the phone back to HTC for maintenance. Though so many phone manufacturers have released phones using Android if you know a manufacturer you're already comfortable with, like Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, etc. it'd be worth checking out their phones first.

I love love love my iPhone and have had it since day 1 (almost 2 years ago) and not one problem. I have a kick butt cover because I throw it around like nothing.

Our lloyds bank account covers our phones up to something like 700 pounds per phone! Totally worth the fee per month to cover our phone, give us AA, travel insurance and whatever else comes with it.

I just wish I could get an easy US sim card to us in the US with my iphone - I will pay and I am waiting to find out how easy it is with a company I found on line.

I have an older HTC Android phone (older meaning it began production about two years ago.  I have had mine for a year and a few months).  Mine works pretty much the same as it did the day I unboxed it.  Better, really because we were given an upgrade to our operating system, which pretty much has pushed the limits of the hardware of this particular phone.  

However, provided the phone still works at the end of the contract, it is still a useful phone and does all the things you would want a current smart phone to do and more.  I don't think that just upgrading performance and ability to run apps is going to fuel phone upgrading forever.  Something will change like it did a few years ago when everything was either about how much you could add to the functionality of a phone (like the Nokia N-series). It probably will, and it looks like smartphones are becoming more like tablets anyway.

I prefer Android phones because of the way I can define how my phone works, its screens, how I manage my files and downloads, Google's philosophy/open source nature of the Android platform, and I never got along well with Apple products.  I came close to getting an iPhone, but I am glad we decided on something different.

Before that, I had a Blackberry Curve which was barely functioning at the end of my 18 month contract.  TBH, I beat the hell out of it.  I loved that phone until it started playing up, but there were hardware issues from the outset which coupled with the clunkiness of the OS (and the price of apps when I was changing phones) made me decide against another BB for the time being.  I don't know about their newer phones, but I will probably be looking at another Android when we upgrade.

I love love love my iPhone and have had it since day 1 (almost 2 years ago) and not one problem. I have a kick butt cover because I throw it around like nothing.

Ooh... what type of iphone cover do you have? At the moment we just have the bumpers our phones came with but I'm looking for something super durable to be on the safe side.

My husband gave me his old Blackberry when his new job gave him an iPhone, and it works great for me.  I'm not a big fan of touchscreen typing either so I like the keyboard.  My husband has not been that enchanted with his new iPhone, so after six months he's now test-driving an HTC to see whether he wants to swap over. I tease him that it's only because he loves One Note.

Ooh... what type of iphone cover do you have? At the moment we just have the bumpers our phones came with but I'm looking for something super durable to be on the safe side.

http://shop.o2.co.uk/accessory/Gear4_Icebox_Pro_iPhone_case Its not pretty or fashionable but I throw that thing around in my purse and drop it on the kitchen floor ALL the time.  The case never opens and my phone is protected.

I have a Blackberry Torch and an Ipod Touch.  What my husband and I love most about Blackberry is the Blackberry instant messenger.  We can communicate via instant message anywhere and it doesn't eat up minutes or MBs anywhere in the world.  If one of us travels somewhere we can instant message each other for free.  I really wanted an Iphone, but the Blackberry instant message app has paid off for us big time.

You can use Ping Chat on an iPhone, Android or BlackBerry
http://pingchat.com/home.shtml

My husband gave me his old Blackberry when his new job gave him an iPhone, and it works great for me.  I'm not a big fan of touchscreen typing either so I like the keyboard.  My husband has not been that enchanted with his new iPhone, so after six months he's now test-driving an HTC to see whether he wants to swap over. I tease him that it's only because he loves One Note.

Theres the HTCs Desire Z which has a full pull out keyboard or the HTC ChaCha which looks a lot like a BB but with Android - though seems to be marketed at those who use a lot of social networking..

My first smartphone is the HTC Wildfire and love it. I came from VERY basic PAYG phone previous to this (Last was a SE Zylo - which crapped out 4 months into owning it) and sick of the phones falling apart. I went with this because of the simple reason of being able to make the phone my own, and as it gets older being able to config so it can go a bit further..  My partner had an iPhone 3Gs (as soon as he could he got rid of it, and hes a self proclaimed macwhore) to get a Nokia N900. Hed stay with them, but Nokia is moving towards Windows Mobile and not the OS his phone is on (its a random type of Linux that Nokia has stopped supporting) so will probably be getting the high end model of HTC available this time next year..

I've currently got a 3 year old blackberry storm (touch screen kind) and although it has its very occasional aches and pains, its a workhorse and I beat the hell out of it, and I've been very happy with it. 

My boyfriend got his first ever smartphone, android HTC desire, and he loves it as well.  I've been playing with it and I think that when my storm finally kicks the bucket, I'll go android. 

That said, I'm a mac user and I have had an ipod touch for however long they've existed, so I am well versed with that technology.  But I prefer the weight and feel of the HTC phones better.     

I guess what it comes down to is we're all different and like different things 

Earlier this month I decided to go for an Android rather than replacing my Iphone. My Iphone was slowing down and constantly crashing (which seemed to stop once I reset to factory settings) but the big reason I decided to go to Android was because Apple is not competitive about their phones. They seem to think they're in a class all their own now and they're not. They have decent competition and I think their prices should reflect that. I refuse to pay nearly £150 for a phone with a £30 a month contract for 2 years. So I went shopping and found the Samsung Galaxy S. I have a few friends who had this phone and it seemed to do what I wanted it to.

Honestly, it's taken me a couple of weeks to come to terms with it. The Android doesn't seem as sturdy as the iphone. I'm terrified of breaking it but I have a decent cover for it. I really did like how the Iphone works (when it worked) and the Android was very alien to me but once you get your settings how you want them and the apps you use, then all is well. Plus, the phone was free and I only pay £22 for a £30 contract (Orange give a 25% discount to those who work in education and NHS).

Also, turns out used Iphones have good saleability.  I got my iphone 2 years ago, months before O2 lost their exclusivity contract with Apple. I got the phone for free (It was only a 3G, not 3GS). Now, they won't give you a free iphone unless it's a refurbished 3G one or you pay a high monthly contract. We sold my old Iphone on ebay for £150 after only an hour of it being online. We most definitely could have got more, they had cracked screen iphones going for that price and people were still buying them. Crazy.

I put David's old iPhone 3GS on our schools intranet for 275.00 and it sold in 30 mins...and I sold my 3G for 150...

Also, turns out used Iphones have good saleability.  I got my iphone 2 years ago, months before O2 lost their exclusivity contract with Apple. I got the phone for free (It was only a 3G, not 3GS). Now, they won't give you a free iphone unless it's a refurbished 3G one or you pay a high monthly contract. We sold my old Iphone on ebay for £150 after only an hour of it being online. We most definitely could have got more, they had cracked screen iphones going for that price and people were still buying them. Crazy.

To be fair, this is the case with most apple products. My partner almost sold his old powerbook for £500 (at the time 3 years old) but gave it to his mother instead when her PC crashed.
Got to love apple fanboys/girls.

...but the big reason I decided to go to Android was because Apple is not competitive about their phones. They seem to think they're in a class all their own now and they're not. They have decent competition and I think their prices should reflect that. I refuse to pay nearly £150 for a phone with a £30 a month contract for 2 years...

This!  But I'm happy to learn they have a great resale value! 

Hed stay with them, but Nokia is moving towards Windows Mobile and not the OS his phone is on (its a random type of Linux that Nokia has stopped supporting) so will probably be getting the high end model of HTC available this time next year..

Symbian?  When Mr A worked in digital forensics, they hated working with that OS.  It's supposedly really complicated to do the stuff they need to do to extract data and document things, so I imagine programming in it is more difficult.  He has a Sony Ericsson Vivaz right now which runs on it, and it never fails to baffle me on the rare times I have to fiddle with it.  He's probably going to Android when we upgrade, even though he loves the hardware on his phone.  He doesn't mind Symbian, but he feels like he misses out on apps.